The Africa printer market has attracted a significant number of market players in recent times. Formlabs, a U.S.-based resin 3D printer manufacturer, has recently announced its international distribution partnership with Build Volume, a South African player in the 3D printer market. The first printer in this series is Form 1, which applies stereolithography (a process in which a laser is utilized to solidify dots in a pool of liquid plastic resin that harden into a print) for printing instead of plastic filament, which is used in traditional printers. The printer has been priced around US$ 2534.3 per unit.

On the other hand, the South African wing of Konica Minolta has recently launched four new wireless printers, namely AirPrint, Android Printing Framework, Google Cloud Print, and Mopria Print Service, in a bid to expand its wireless capabilities and meet the expectations of mobile users.

According to the company, the demand for mobile printers has reported a continual rise since 2012. The rising demand for reliable printing and flexible job submission from the mobile workforce, mobile printing applications, and professional cloud services has propelled the market for mobile printers in Africa significantly. The company expects an expansion of its regular business from this move.

Laser Printers to Lead Africa Printer Market

The market for printers in Africa has been steadily showing exceptional growth. Inkjet, laser, and dot matrix are the major types of printers available in this market. In 2012, the laser printers market was the biggest revenue generator in the region. Apart from these, the dot matrix printers market is also experiencing a sturdy growth in demand on account of the low cost of printing dot matrix printers offer.

South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Madagascar, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and the Rest of Africa are the key regional markets for printers in Africa. South Africa, among these, has surfaced as the largest printer market in Africa in 2012, accounting for a share of 20.8% in the overall market. The rising demand for managed print services as well as multi-function printers (MFP) and large format printers have stimulated the market for printers in South Africa. Botswana is also witnessing an exponential rise in the printer market, owing to the rapid growth of the BFSI and telecom industries.

On the whole, the market for printers in Africa looks to be thriving. The increasing need for building a novel printing structure, replacing the older one, has fueled the demand for MFP as well as MPS, resulting in immense growth of the Africa printer market. According to a report published by Transparency, Market Research (TMR), the printing market in Africa stood at US$2.3 bn in 2012. Analysts project this market to expand at a CAGR of 8.80% over the period from 2013 to 2019 and reach a value of US$4.2 bn by the end of 2019.